A memory module may include volatile and nonvolatile memory elements. Upon a power failure, or upon a command from a host system that includes the memory module, data from the volatile memory may be backed up to the nonvolatile memory. The memory module may interface to the host system as a Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM), even though it also includes nonvolatile memory.
Due to the intrinsic backup capability of such a memory module, the host system gains the speed and flexibility of volatile memory, with the data security of nonvolatile memory. Backed up data is restored by commanding a memory controller internal to the module to copy data from nonvolatile memory back to volatile memory. Restoring data in this fashion leads to conflicts between memory settings suitable for the host system and settings required by the memory module's internal controller.